That's What Big Sisters Do
by geronimouse
Summary: What happens when Sam and Dean find out a secret that their big sister, Caroline, has been hiding from them for years? Rated T for mentions of past physical child abuse. ONE SHOT


**Hello friendssss,**

 **I've always wanted to read a one shot about something like this but could never find one so I thought, hey, why don't I just write one myself! I hope this is satisfactory for you all, reviews are appreciated and well recieved :)**

 **Warnings: Mentions of past physical child abuse and I think there is one swear word in there somewhere.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Supernatural (sigh) I only own my OC Caroline.**

It was a normal friday night, well as normal a friday night as the Winchesters could get. Sam, Dean, their older sister Caroline, Castiel and Bobby were all drinking beers around the table in the kitchen of the bunker, having just finished a game of cards. The three siblings were telling old hunting stories to an amused Castiel and Bobby.

Caroline was older than Dean by two years. She'd always taken it upon herself to look after her two younger brothers, much to their chagrin. Maybe it was the fact that she was a girl, but Sam and Dean had always wanted to be the ones who looked after _her,_ not the other way around.

Caroline got up to get a new beer whilst Sam was in the middle of telling a story

"-do you remember that time you accidentally broke that lamp in the motel room Dean and Caroline took the rap for it?"

A loud smash sounded from behind Sam from Caroline as she dropped the beer on the floor in shock. All four heads turned to look at her in shock and concern.

"Shit, i'm sorry guys" Caroline muttered as she bent down to clean up the glass with her bare hands. There was a ringing in her ears and she didn't realise Castiel had got up to help her when she pricked her finger on a bit of glass.

Castiel covered her hands with his own and gave her a concerned look as he took the glass and put it in the bin. Caroline brushed her hands on her jeans and stood up.

"I'm gonna head off to bed now guys, night" she tried to rush out of the kitchen quickly but was stopped when Dean called out to her.

"Care wait" his voice was sharp, but she could detect the hint of concern and confusion.

She turned around to face him but refused to meet his gaze.

"I'm sick of this Caroline, every time we mention Dad you flinch, or run off. I wanna know why"

Castiel remained leaning against the kitchen counter whilst Sam and Dean looked at her from the table with concern. Bobby got up and walked behind her, resting his hands on her shouldlers.

"Your sister doesn't have to explain herself to you if she doesn't want to"

Dean stood up at that, anger clearly evident on his face

"Like hell she doesn't!"

"Dean" Sam cut Dean off with a sharp look, before rising to stand beside him.

"Caroline, did Dad ever-" his voice faltered for a second before he gained some more confidence.

"Did Dad ever hit you?"

The tension in the room was so thick as Caroline tried to think of something to say. She tried to shake her head but couldn't form the words.

"Don't lie to us Care, I've been suspecting it for a while, just please, don't lie to us"

Caroline takes in Sams look of distress and Deans look of bewilderement before nodding numbly and staring at the wall past them.

Sam covered his mouth with his hand in shock whilst Dean just stood their gaping like a fish. Finally he managed to formulate some words.

"Did you know about this?" Dean asked sharply, glaring at Bobby.

Bobby cleared his throat before nodding slightly. Dean through his hands up in exasperation whilst Bobby tried to defend himself.

"I didn't know until after Sam went to Stamford"

"Oh well that makes it so much better" Sam snapped sarcastically as he brushed his hair back from his face in disbelief.

Castiel, who had been watching the exchange with a tense look of concentration on his face, spoke up.

"You mean to say that your father was physically abusive towards you?"

Caroline cringed and rubbed her neck "Well when you put it like that it sounds so much more serious than it is"

"Caroline this is serious!" Dean shouted in disbelief "When did it start?"

Caroline shrugged her shoulders and looked at the ground "Just after Mom died"

She dared to look up from the ground at her two brothers and cringed. She had never felt so small and embarrassed in all her life. Despite being older than them, she felt like the weak helpless little sister that she had tried so hard not to be.

"Jesus Rollie, you were six" Sam gasped and stared at her with a mixture of pity and despair.

"And you guys were four and six months, I couldn't let Dad do anything to you" she answered with another shrug before moving to get a glass of water.

Sam let out a breath and turned to face her

"So, everytime we fucked up and you took the rap for us, he hurt you?"

Caroline swiftly turned to glare at Sam and pointed a finger at him

"Don't you dare blame yourself for this Sammy, this is not yours or Deans fault. I wanted to protect you, I'm your big sister it's my _job"_ her voice cracked on the last word.

Sam continued to look at Caroline with a mixture of sorrow and guilt and Caroline turned away, cursing his puppy dog eyes.

"How often?" Dean grunted, boring his eyes into the back of her head.

She hesitated before moving forward "not that often" she mumbled

"She's lying" Castiel spoke up. Caroline turned around and glared at the angel.

"Caroline we've had enough lying tonight, can you just be honest with us!" Dean snapped

Carolines eyes lit up with anger as she approached Dean.

"I have not been lying to you! Yeah sure, I didn't tell you about what Dad used to do to me, but what would you have done if I had? Confronted him about it and get a beating of your own? There was nothing you could have done! So stop acting like wounded little boys and treated me like a fragile piece of china because I am not going to smash! I've been dealing with it for years without your help and I definitely don't need it now!" she finished her sentence with a growl and brought her hands to run through her hair in distress.

"Rollie, calm down" Castiel approached her slowly but her breathing was already picking up.

"If anything had _ever_ happened to either of you two then I wouldn't have been able to live with myself! Dad told me that I was the eldest so I had to take responsibility for my actions. And he was _right_! I was a fuck up child, I never did anything right, never listened to orders. I was too headstrong and he hated it." Caroline was speaking quickly now and batting the boys hands away when they tried to calm her down.

Sam took a tight hold of her shoulders and shook her.

"Care don't you dare say that! You did not deserve anything Dad did to you, God I don't even want to call him Dad anymore after what I've found out. Any man who treats his daughter like that doesn't deserve to be a father. I love you so much Rollie, you're the best big sister I could ever hope for. But _please_ don't blame this on yourself."

By now Caroline was sobbing into Sams shoulder as he rubbed soothing circles on her back. It scared Sam and Dean to see their usually strong big sister reduced to tears.

There was silence in the room for a couple of minutes before Dean spoke up with a strained voice.

"How did we _not_ notice? I mean, we were together 24/7, you'd think we would have known something was up"

Caroline brushed her tears from her face and stepped away from Sam.

"He mostly kept to my back, he used to give me lashes with his belt as a punishment so that you guys wouldn't see" she said in a monotone.

Sam made a sound of distress and the other three men in the room gave her a look of pity.

"Can we" Dean faltered before gaining some more courage "Can we see?"

Caroline froze for a second, studying the expressions on the mens faces in the room. Sam still looked distressed, obviously blaming himself for not noticing. Dean looked upset but also angry, at himself or their dad she wasn't sure. Bobby's face was unreadable as he watched her, waiting to see what she would say. And Castiel was staring at her with a reassuring but hesitant gaze.

She took a deep breath before nodding and turning around, slipping her top off and revealing her back to them. All she had on was a bra. It wasn't the fact that she felt exposed that made her uncomfortable. It was the fact that she was showing them the most secret part of herself that she had never shown anyone before. Suddenly she felt nervous at what their reactions would be and when she heard the gasps and sharp intakes of breath at her heavily scarred back she knew they were beyond upset and pissed off.

"I'm gonna kill him" Dean said, scarily calm as he grabbed his car keys and made his way to the door. Bobby stepped in his way, blocking his path.

"Now hold on just a minute son. You don't even know where your father is-" Dean cut him off with a glare.

"Don't. Call. Him. That" he ground out, gritting his teeth in anger "he is no father of mine, and if you think I'm just gonna sit here and do nothing about what she has told us tonight you're mistaken".

Bobby raised his hands in a placating gesture "All I mean is, you driving off as angry as you are, not to mention the amount of alcohol you've probably got in your system tonight is not gonna do anyone any good".

Dean seemed to waver slightly but still looked dead set on going.

"Right now Dean, you need to be here for your siblings" he gestured to Sam who had his head in his hands and Caroline who had put her top back on and was leaning her head on Castiels shoulder with a tired look on her face.

"Especially Caroline. She's been looking after you your whole life Dean, now it's time to look after her"

Dean sighed and placed his keys back on the counter before going over to his sister and pulling her into a tight hug.

"We're gonna sort this out Rollie, you don't have to deal with this by yourself anymore. You've got me and Sammy and Bobby and Castiel too"

Caroline looked over Deans shoulder at the men who nodded in confirmation.

"We're not going anywhere kiddo, we're gonna sort this out and everything will be alright" Bobby added.

Caroline nodded her head and burried her face in Deans shoulder

"I love you guys" she mumbled quietly, but they all heard her.

 **I hope you enjoyed and I hope that I wrote the characters to your satisfaction, reviews/favourites are appreciated:)**

 **Until next time!**


End file.
